There is not a single way of a lifestyle that could be applicable in the households of 7 billion people. What governments would need to focus on instead is the penetration of basic goods everywhere. This is how with comparing fridges from real homes around the world, the Director General of APPLiA, Paolo Falcioni started his speech at the United Nations’ Science-Policy-Business Forum.

In its book “Factfulness”, the Swedish academic Hans Rosling who made its readers stop embracing the clichés and rather look for facts, says that “human beings have a strong dramatic instinct toward binary thinking.” And he might be right. There is not a single way of a lifestyle that could be applicable in the households of 7 billion people as the local realities are much more complex than we can imagine. What governments would need to focus on instead is the penetration of basic goods everywhere. This is how with comparing fridges from real homes in Kenya, the Netherlands, the United States, Brazil and Indonesia, the Director General of APPLiA, Paolo Falcioni started his speech at the United Nations’ Science-Policy-Business Forum. The event, held on 8-10 March in Nairobi, united influential organisations and individuals in the goal of using the environment sustainably for the benefit of all and was fully immersed in nature in UN’s premises.

“We realise that there are different starting points to deliver circularity and reach a Circular Culture. Speaking about the European reality which we know best, the loop could come to closure once we track all waste”, Paolo Falcioni said. He also shared a future projection of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2060 showing that technological improvements would need to work to reduce global material use, as well as that the world would need to strongly rely on recycling. In similar fashion, the recently launched Manifesto of APPLiA has set the bar high, asking for establishing a Circular Culture, improving the energy market and keeping jobs in Europe. To inform Europeans that every action counts and is interlinked, Paolo Falcioni played one of the series of the Manifesto explaining how bringing small appliances to a collection point ensures that materials can be recycled.

Looking at the known Global Sustainable Goals of the UN, Paolo Falcioni pointed out the link between aspirations, such as good health and well-being; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; industry, innovation and infrastructure; sustainable cities and communities; responsible consumption and production; climate action and the world of home appliances.

“The format allowed for a based-on-facts discussion that involves all parties. Leaving the comfort zone we are in is an eye-opener for what we need to aim at and how the idea of better lifestyles could be applied to contrasting worlds”, Paolo Falcioni concluded.